1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to power circuits, and more particularly to verifying that power line communication units that are coupled to such power circuits are properly coupled.
2. Background Art
Many mission-critical systems depend on a constant and reliable supply of power. For example, in the computer world, bank data centers, server farms running electronic business web sites, and other sorts of systems need a constant and reliable source of power. If the systems go down as result of lack of power, this can mean millions of dollars or even more in losses to the owners, such as banks, businesses, and so on.
Therefore, many mission-critical systems have built-in mechanisms for redundant sources of power, or at least for redundant connections to the same source of power. For example, a given system may have two or more power supplies. Each power supply should be connected to a different power circuit. The different power circuits may ultimately depend on the same source of power, such as the electrical grid, or different sources of power, such as the electrical grid and a generator.
However, it is difficult to maintain proper power redundancy in such systems, especially where they service fast-growing workloads. Current practice usually mandates manual verification of which system is fed by which of a number of redundant power circuits. This situation allows human error to result in total failure of the system, even if there is a breakdown affecting only a few or as little as one of the power circuits. If a mission-critical system is allowed to depend on only one of the power circuits, then it can fail if only one circuit goes down.
For this reason, as well as other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.